Chris Jones: ‘It was my mistake … I have to man up’

EAST RUTHERFORD — Referee Jerome Boger explained the unsportsmanlike penalty call on Chris Jones on the 56-yard missed field goal attempt by Nick Folk that resulted in a second chance for the Jets and led to the game-winning 44-yard field goal in overtime in New York’s 30-27 win Sunday.

Jones was called for pushing teammate Will Svitek into the Jets line of scrimmage.

“It was something we talked about in camp and it just skipped out of my mind,” Jones said. “It was my mistake and nobody else’s. I just have to man up to it and fix it next time. I was just trying to get that extra little umph in the middle, to get up there.

“I was confused at first. I didn’t know what was going on. I figured out what it was and that was my fault. We still had more football to play so I had to get rid of it real quick. We talked about it before. It probably slipped my mind. Now I know it. I just have to use it for upcoming weeks so I don’t make that mistake again. It’s tough.”

Boger was interviewed by pool reporter Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com.

Q: Please explain the penalty that was called on No. 94 (Patriots defensive tackle Chris Jones) on the field goal attempt.
A: The call was that No. 94 on the defense pushed his teammate into the formation. That is a rule change for 2013 that a teammate cannot push a teammate into the opponents’ formation

Q: Is it any type of push? Is it a two-handed push?
A: Any push. It could be with the body, not necessarily with the hand, but with the body into his teammate, into the formation. It’s any type of pushing action.

Q: Is there anything else to go over with this penalty?
A: No, the umpire’s flag went up almost instantaneously as he observed the action. We just enforced it as he called it.